Women in Math, Science, and Engineering (WiMSE), is one of UConn’s many Living and Learning Communities. This LLC is open to all female underclassmen STEM majors. WiMSE is located in the brand new Next Generation Connecticut residence hall on the 7th floor (talk about a view!). We interviewed the Assistant Director of WiMSE to get some insight on her work with LLCs.
Name: Mary Wynn
Current Major: Animal Growth Physiology (first-year graduate student)
Hometown: Ledyard, CT
Q: How long have you been involved with the WiMSE Living and Learning Community?
A: This is my first year! I started my UConn career at the Avery Point campus, and there are no Learning Communities there. There were FYE classes at Avery Point, but I remember my orientation leader said not to take one because they were boring! I took sailing instead. I transferred to Storrs my junior year, so I never lived in WiMSE. I learned about LLC’s too late, so everything I’m doing with WiMSE is the first time for me.
Q: How did you get to be the Assistant Director?
A: The Assistant Director at the time (my current post-doc advisor) was leaving. As an undergrad, I expressed interest in going to grad school and teaching, so the undergrad assistant in my major, Dr. Kristen Govoni, who is the current Director of WiMSE, told me about it. I jumped at position because it would give me an opportunity to be involved in LLCs but also get a taste of teaching.
Q: What does the job entail?
A: I teach FYE seminars for the members of the LLC. I am like a communication liaison between students, floor and FYE mentors, Dr. Govoni, and the First Year Learning program office. I hold and attend weekly meetings, where the FYE mentors come up with event and activity ideas. The first semester gets busy in the beginning for everyone, so I take the mentors’ ideas and put them into action so they don’t have to worry about booking locations.
Q: WiMSE is a very active and involved LLC. How do you plan when to do all of these events, including team building at Four Arrows, yoga nights, and more?
A: The beginning of semester is very activity heavy for WiMSE with everyone getting to meet each other, so we space the activities out more as the semester goes on. The RAs of NextGen are required to do activities, but we aren’t. We still try do one event a week to keep everyone involved in the Community.
All photos courtesy of Mary Wynn